The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-09-22


warriors with the fiery ambition of a chiv-
alrous age and race. But they put away
the armor of worldly conflicts, they left
the scenes of European gayety and splen
dor, they renowned the pageantry of
courts and princes, the ties of blood and
the tender bonds of long loved associa-
tons, and, yielding submission to a purer
and sterner ambition, they resolved TO
plant the Christian faith among the wild
tribes of the new continent. The plos-
pect of high position and seductive wealth
was exchanged for life of penury andd
obscurity. Knights of the holy CatholicN
faith, they might have won noble distilc-
lions from pspal gratitude and favor at
home, and in the wonderful shiftings of.
European politics there was nothing so
high or so great as not to be attainable
by intrepid valor and unrelenting en-
thusiasm. But worldly pomp and eccles->
iastical dignities were put aside for the
dangers, the privations, the unreckoned
perils and prosecutions of missionary la
Dor in the forests of the western wilder
ness. To them the alteration due to
genius and learning, the praise of men or
their gratitude were as nothing compared
with the sacred zeal of a life copseerated
to the conversion and enlightment of ma
tions of which they knew neither the
language nor even the names. And so
they entered upon their mission. Push
ing out to the very verge of the new set
Elements and prosecuting long journeys
alone and unprotected through regions
alive with hostile savages, they erected
here and there quaint abodes, half cas-
ties, half cathedrals, mingling the rude
craft of Mexico with the suggestive beauty
of Gothic art, and reminding them at once
of the life they had left and the destiny
they had adopted. In time they sur
rounded the missions with few native
converts, who, with the emotional awe of
untutored minds, became the AFFECT
| slaves and worshippers as much of their
teachers as of the new religion. They
thus managed to till few acres of ground,
whose produce supplied them frugal
subsistence and fed the small caravan of
pack mules with which each mission was
furnished. Looking around the small
plateau on which San Geronimo was sit
uated, it was not difficult to picture the
course of employment which interested
and kept busy its former inhabitants.
Here on breezy mornings in the opening
|
Of the little garden or directed the prun-
ing and trailing of the vines in the vine
yard below. In the long, hot days OF
summer, they pored over yellow, shrlveled
manuscripts of the Fathers or visited the
neighborlng village, officiated at the
Cathedral of the Three Crosses, and, on
fete days, baptized new converts, christ
ened infants and performed the marriage
ceremony for the young lovers of Chihua,
hua. When the hazy golden veil of
autumn began to settle over the noun
tains and TO make the valleys glorious
with its richly-tinted shadows, the mules
we're saddled and laden with trinkets
beads, wooden cruciixes and gaudy wares
for prospective converts and scant al
lowance of provisions for themselves ano
attendants. The mission was closed anC
the outer gate barred, the Indian guides
and the muleteers shouted cheerily tc
the little caravan, and away they went fol
their annual visitation to the remote
tribes of the NORTH journeying slowly
through rocky gorges and over steep as
cents, along the banks of emboweret
streams, through the rich verdure of vas
valleys, resting anon with friendly tribe
by the side of some glistening lake nest
, ling in dreamy lovIines5 among the hol
lows of the hills; and again pursuing
their march along yet wilder and NOR
arduous trials. With the closing winte
they journeyed back to San Gerouim'
and began again the peaceful routine o
a a new year. The strife and turmoil o
a the distant world, Europe with its din o
I arms, its diplomacy, its rival sects, its bit
a ter feuds and exciting charms, were to-
, far away, too discordant to find plac
. here. Once quarter, perhaps, ther
q came news from over the sea-rumors o
a vast projects, startling changes and thrill
ling conflicts, the faint echoes of ia
, away revel. Then who knows what restles
Z cravings stirred in the bosom of thes
:. quiet priests? Who shall say what hear
4 burnings, what vague hopes, slumberin
g passions, half frightened resolves an
smot hered desires may have at sue
q times, disturbed the "passionless peace
: of their lot? In such moments perhar
+ the old battle had to be fought over, tn
a old agony re-enacted, the half-forgotte
! misery endured again, for when the magi
= slide is my seriously drawn who can SHIT
a his eyes to the pictures that are flashe
y upon the curtain of memory? But wit
. time and resoiute self-discipline the IN
ruly hearts were stilled, and the gentle rs
q dance of a pure devotion shed its cali
4 over their restless spirits. Near indee
= must they lave approached to Him fc
a whom they labored and sacrificed ami
h the unbroken beauty and solelnnity of nj
~ ture's solitudes. In the long, listless day
a of summer, when meditation purifie
- their thoughts and exalted their aspirs
~ tions, they perhaps realized the true NJ
- bility of the career they had chosen. A
~, =. tivity, energy, ceaseless toll are of the 9
10 sence of human happiness and improv
!, ment. But is there not correspondent
- benediction in the softened leisure of n
- tros pection, the communings of heart ar
=, soul in the secret reveries of penitenti
\. meditation!
sIf from society we learn to live,
lis solitude should teach us now to die
In such quiet moments the unlocke
casket of memory discloses rare treasure
q. TO view; then we catch the cleare
plim pses of truth; then fading hopes a
it Te-illnmined and wounded spirits al
a soothed; then fancy, like the richl.
I'd tinted light of cathedral windows, shin,
ia on the common things of life and rende
Sc them radiantly beautiful, and the
Of imagination, no longer fettered by earth
w trifes, gazes serene on that celestial eli
D. where, with our strivings for cutu
- III aha1 L. g.,